[Callers] Box - Swat - CA - Jersey/Nevada

[Richard Hart via Callers]

The hands vs. hands fee dichotomy is an interesting one for contra
dance callers. Contra dane callers are calling for halls filled with
some combination of experienced dancers and absolute beginners. With
hands free moves, some absolute beginners can be in the next set
before anyone notices the problem.  When I see that the room is filled
with beginners, I try to avoid hands free moves (allamande L rather
than do-si-do, for example).

I've considered writing an entirely hands free dance, as an example,
along with a very similar dance that used hands for the corresponding
moves. The hands free dance would certainly need to used only at an
expert-only dance.

On Sat, Jun 13, 2015 at 11:09 PM, Aahz Maruch via Callers
<callers at lists.sharedweight.net> wrote:
> On Sat, Jun 13, 2015, Neal Schlein via Callers wrote:
>>
>> Interesting note: Star Thru is one of the few figures in modern
>> squares which by definition CANNOT be done by two facing people
>> dancing the same gender role.  Box the Gnat is another, and possibly
>> California Twirl depending on the exact definition.  The
>> gender-neutral replacements are Slide Thru and Partner Trade.
>
> The flip side of Slide Thru and Partner Trade is that because they are
> no-hands, they change hand availability significantly and body flow
> somewhat.  Some MWSD callers argue that we should drop California Twirl,
> Box the Gnat, and Star Thru because we have the no-hands versions, but
> those of us who have field-tested that discovered that the hands versions
> really work better for a lot of choreography.  (The gender-neutral
> sequence for Box the Gnat is Touch 1/4 and Roll, which does have hands
> but significantly different body flow.)
>
> NOTE CAREFULLY: Slide Thru is not gender-neutral because it has specific
> turning instructions based on gender; it's just the no-hands version of
> Star Thru that allows same-gender operation (i.e. same-gender ends up
> facing opposite directions instead of same direction).  However, Partner
> Trade is a genuinely gender-neutral dance figure.
> --
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